Read, Think, Question

 I read every day. Books, magazine articles, newspapers are all part of every day life for me. I try to read things that challenge my beliefs. Books that make me take a different look at our shared American history. If you are looking for a book to read here are some of the ones I read last year. 

The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku 

Poverty by America by Matthew Demond

The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens by Richard Haass

The Bodies Keep Coming: Dispatches From a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal by Brian H. Williams

Enough by Cassidy Hutchinson

The Book of Charlie by David Von Dreble

Things Our Fathers Saw by Matthew A. Rozell. This is a series of books. They are first person stories of World War 2 veterans. 

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

Systemic Racism 101: A Visual History of the Impact of Racism in America by Aminah Pilgrim

Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth by Elizabeth Williamson

Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow Cox

American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by John Meacham. 

I’ll admit this is not an easy reading list. The effects of poverty, gun violence, racism and politics are pervasive in America. It is vital we see where we came from to understand how we arrived at this point. We require that information to plan a future. 

There is currently a serious discussion about the first amendment and our freedom of speech. I think too few Americans understand the history of free speech in America. The best book I have found on that subject is this one. Much of the speech we enjoy today would have landed us in legal trouble in America not all that long ago. If you wonder about the importance of dissenting opinions by Supreme Court justices this book reveals their potential impact. 

The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind- and Changed the History of Free Speech in America by Thomas Healy

So I encourage you to take some time this year to read. 

Not Where You Want Hair

 Can’t grow hair on top of my head. 

Not me but you get the idea. 

So this morning I’m in the bathroom getting ready for my shower. I take a quick look in the mirror and it’s time for a trim. Nose hair. Why does it seem to grow faster than any other hair on my body? I think if I didn’t do weekly maintenance my future could look like this. 

Maybe nose hair doesn’t grow any faster than ear hair. I mean really? What the actual fuck is the deal here? Is this my future too? 

The older I get the more I realize the “golden years” must refer to how Mother Nature and Father Time have decided to get together and piss on your old age dreams. We spend our youth wanting to be an adult. We spend our senior years remembering how good we had it as a kid. 

Every Day

 It started January 10, 2021. Today makes 2 years. What have I done every day for 2 years? Read. Not newspapers or magazines although I do read them. Books. I read in books every day. No particular subject matter. It has ranged from science fiction, to science, to horror, to politics, biography, history, political science, novels, just a bit of anything and everything. Some books have been a pleasure to read. Some have been work. Some I have struggled to finish. Some I wished the story hadn’t ended. Some have frustrated me. The more I read about Abraham Lincoln the more I want to know. The more impressed I am with President Lincoln. When I listen to politicians today I often think about two of Lincoln’s speeches. The first Gettysburg and the second his second inaugural address. How Lincoln could say so much with so few words. How current politicians can say so little with such long speeches. The more I read about former President Trump the more appalled I am about how he could have been elected and allowed to remain in office. I think we still don’t fully grasp the damage he has done to the country. 

So what am I reading now? The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab. I’m a bit over halfway through this book and I am impressed. What would life be like if no one could remember you? Addie cannot write or draw anything. She cannot say her name. When someone meets her they can sit and talk for hours. If they get up and walk to the restroom when they return they won’t know who she is. They won’t remember talking to her. She can have no long term friendships. She cannot have a job. She made a deal with the devil. She wanted to be free. He can have her soul when she is done with it. She was born in France in the 1690’s and the story flashes back and forth between then and the 2010’s. So think about your life. How important your relationships are. Imagine your life with none of those relationships and no possibility of any relationship. Until Addie hears the words she has longed to hear for 300 years- “I remember you.” 

So, close this blog post and grab a book. Take a trip into history or into a possible future. Read about current events or politics or love or romance. A book can take you anywhere in any time period. It can warm your heart or make your blood run cold. Read!!!! 

She’s a Worker

 Carol and I got up this morning and had a couple of cups of coffee at home. We decided it was a good day to make the 18 mile drive to Rushville for a quick trip to the grocery store. As long as we were going why not stop at Roger’s Bakery and have a doughnut. We knew our granddaughter Audrey was working and it would be an opportunity to visit her for a little while. It was early and pretty quiet in the dining room. A few folks stopped in to get orders but no one else was sitting at the tables. 

You never know what you children or grandchildren are going to be like when they grow up. There have been bumps in the road of life. I think every family has them. Things you would go back and change if you could. Choices you made or they made at a fork in the road that could have resulted in different outcomes. The truth is that all those choices have put us where we are now. The options we didn’t choose. The choices we avoided may not have put us in a better place. Learn from the past but always look forward to the future. Watching Audrey today deal with customers and coworkers gave me a moment to pause and think. She is a kind, thoughtful, polite, intelligent young lady. So are her sisters Johnnie and Vannessa. Somehow with all the mistakes we made as parents and grandparents we managed to have children and granddaughters who make us proud of who they are every day. It is reassuring to see them as confident, self assured and morally grounded adults. If I have any advice for them it would be this. 

Mabel

 Mabel is our great granddaughter. The daughter of our granddaughter Shekinah. She will turn 3 next month. 

2023

2022

2021

She is a happy and healthy young lady. She has a wonderful loving mother. What more could you want? 

She’s Amazing

 

Carol has been experiencing difficulties with her knees for several years. On December 7th she had her left knee replaced. So, about 3 weeks later she is back to the basement and working with her long arm quilting machine. She felt confident enough to go down the stairs. While the trip was slow she made it without problems. Being her at home health aide I had to limit her time at the machine. She needs to work into standing gradually. Going from a few minutes at a time to hours isn’t a good idea. It has been a tough year with her machine. It has been in for service several times. There are lots of wires to disconnect and when it is gone for a month or more remembering where they go can be challenging. After a brief struggle with that and a reboot for the programming it worked like a champ. 

She’s amazing because I would still be whining and complaining while I has everything delivered to my recliner. I try to do as much as I can for her but she is pretty independent. 

Older- yes /Wiser- an open question

The next four items are from a book I just finished by Steven Petrow called Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old. 

I actually think playwright George Bernard Shaw had it right when he said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”

The more we define ourselves by our frailties and illnesses, the more we allow them to become us.

He knew he was getting older when it took him longer to do what he used to do easily, and quickly, so he decided to do less, but even that took longer.

“Back at the beginning, as I see now, my life was all time and almost no memory.... And now, nearing the end, I see that my life is almost entirely memory and very little time.”

I think one of the difficulties in getting older is the third quote. Things get more difficult. You can feel yourself slowing down. What formerly happened so easily now requires effort. Sometimes considerable effort. What required effort in the past may now require assistance. It is assistance we don’t want to ask for or be forced to admit we need. So we decide to do less. 

The last quote. Time? That’s a tough one. Lots to look back on. How much is left ahead? It is clear at my age there is more behind me than lies ahead. Here is one opinion from the internet yesterday. 

What I found interesting was that it was exactly 4 years yesterday. What would I do if that was certain? How would I spend those 4 years? Recently I have been considering what is important in life. It has come down to a couple of things. Love and kindness. Everyone has struggles in this life. If I can’t do anything to make their lives better then I should do what I can to ensure I don’t make them any worse. A kind word. A listening ear. An open heart and mind. A helping hand. In a world that seems to be increasingly cruel or at least lacking empathy I am choosing to swim against the current. It may be a small thing but it matters. Return that shopping cart. Tip you waitstaff a little extra. Pick up that piece of trash on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. Smile and wave at your neighbor, or a stranger, or someone driving by. Make a tiny difference. They add up.